Washington (CNN) - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul held his ground Wednesday against views that he is anti-Israel as he sought to explain his exclusion from a major gathering of conservative Jewish advocates his fellow GOP hopefuls addressed.

Paul was asked in a CNN interview to respond to remarks he made during last month's CNN Republican National Security Debate where he raised concerns about a continued U.S. military presence in Israel, saying, "Why do we have this automatic commitment that we're going to send our kids and our money endlessly to Israel? I think they are quite capable of taking care of themselves."
On Wednesday, he told CNN's Brooke Baldwin, "What you need to do is go and read the speech (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu gave on the house floor here a couple nights ago. He said, 'We don't need American troops. We can take care of ourselves.' That might be worth looking into it."

"We're involved in too many wars and we should be careful on how we go to wars. But if Netanyahu says we don't need our troops over there, why shouldn't I as well?" Paul said on CNN's "Newsroom."

The Texas representative and three-time GOP presidential hopeful was not invited to the Wednesday forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which labeled his views "misguided and extreme."

"I think America is in a box," Paul said. "We spend too much money policing the world, getting involved in nation building, we're going bankrupt, we have to borrow the money we're spending overseas. We are in a financial crisis."

According to the CNN/Time/ORC International Polls released Wednesday, Paul came in third behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 17% support of likely GOP caucus participants in Iowa, the first voting contest in the GOP presidential primary.

Paul called Gingrich's newfound pre-eminence in the GOP field "the flavor of the week" and described his campaign's rise as much more credible.

"Ours is steady," he said. "People don't come and go once they support our campaign."

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soundoff(88 Responses)

Ron Paul: " "Why do we have this automatic commitment that we're going to send our kids and our money endlessly to Israel?"

THERE ARE NO AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN ISRAEL, Mr. Paul! Further, NOT sending aid to Israel will, probably, turn out way more expensive to the US than sending it.

December 8, 2011 04:51 am at 4:51 am |

andres

this guy makes too much sense to be elected by the american people.

December 8, 2011 05:24 am at 5:24 am |

Buford T Justice

he's right

December 8, 2011 05:31 am at 5:31 am |

garrett4538

Ron you are the man.

December 8, 2011 05:43 am at 5:43 am |

NATHAN WIMBERLY

Blood libel. So much for Ron Paul.

December 8, 2011 06:02 am at 6:02 am |

keith A. sillsbury

I like this man more and more. I'm anti israel because they don't listen to what we tell them to do and they don't pay taxes. We own them and thats final. Their like a boat, a hole in the water you just keep pouring money into and get nothing out of.

December 8, 2011 06:30 am at 6:30 am |

Tim M

43 cents on every dollar we spend is borrowed. Think about that, and then tell me how long we can sustain such spending?

CUTS CUTS CUTS! – Washington needs to be cut by at least 30 percent if not more. Ron Paul will do it! The rest will only allow government to keep growing.

December 8, 2011 07:07 am at 7:07 am |

fensel

Why can't we combine Ron Paul's stance on wars, the war on drugs, bank bailouts, and corruption with a humane approach to education and healthcare? I've never understood why Ron Paul, who by all means seems like an honest and respectable man, equates government run wars with educating and providing healthcare to the public. I wish I could support him, as I strongly respect his views on war and drugs, but not at the cost of sacrificing public education and healthcare.

December 8, 2011 07:10 am at 7:10 am |

Cp

Ron Paul. Brilliant

December 8, 2011 07:17 am at 7:17 am |

Joe joe

smartest man in the room. enough is enough. were trying to by friendship and loyality.never seems to work though.
no one but Paul this election

December 8, 2011 07:23 am at 7:23 am |

Jeff

Israel has all the tools and resources to take care of themselves; the US has spent the last few decades making sure of that. The time has come and the economy is such that they need to actually take care of themselves for a while – while we get our house in order in terms of monetary policy, trade deficits & national debt. It's like our military spending...it's come down to whether we choose to slowly let Israel off the teet or keep doing what we're doing and let the looming financial crises part 2 come and take all the decisions out of our hands?

December 8, 2011 07:28 am at 7:28 am |

Cfrench

Mr. Paul is absolutely right. I've been saying the same thing for years. Israel can take care of itself. Let them battle it out with the muslims and see who wins.

December 8, 2011 07:35 am at 7:35 am |

alkali

Oh Mr. Paul, if you win the nomination, you have my vote. Your policies are well sound, your reasoning is well grounded and your attitude is positive yet conservative. You are basicly what the Good ol' Party used to be back in the early days of this great nation.